Most of the campaign money around here these days is flowing to either the candidates for the 12th District congressional seat, or to those running for Richmond County sheriff.

Of course, some of it comes from the candidates themselves. Lee Anderson’s campaign sent out a notice Monday, claiming that the upcoming financial reports will show him in the money lead for the congressional race with $255,000 cash on hand. But then it points out that $178,000 of that is money Anderson loaned to his campaign.

This past week gave us a perfect look at the law of unintended consequences, and the difference between public servants and buck-passing politicians.

First, the public servants: Georgia officials this year worked to strengthen the state’s open meetings and open records laws.

They collaborated with governments and with such entities as the Georgia Press Association, compromised on a few things, and in the end produced a tougher law that in most cases lets more sunshine into government operations.

When I heard about Columbia County Code Compliance Officer Jimmy Vowell walking into a Martinez woman’s home to serve a notice that her lawn was unkempt, my first thought was:

“When the hell did the county get the power to enforce grass-cutting?”

I mean, really; a couple of weeks ago we were losing our minds over the idea that the federal government could force everyone to buy health insurance. Shouldn’t there at least be mild puzzlement that the county government can fine you if you don’t mow your lawn?

As advance voting in the July 31 primary begins Monday, candidates undoubtedly will start ramping up their efforts to persuade voters to pick them out of the crowd.

But who wins and who loses, in some cases, will be determined by factors that have nothing to do with the candidate.

For example, the two races we’re hearing most about are the sheriff’s race in Richmond County, and the Republican primary for the 12th District U.S. congressional seat. Political wonks know how those races are linked, but I’d bet casual voters don’t have a clue.

More than 87,000 registered voters in Columbia County, along with all other voters in Georgia, started receiving new voter registration cards this past weekend.

After redistricting, where district lines are redrawn to reflect population changes, every voter is supposed to get a new voter registration card so you know whose districts you live in.

For a small number of Columbia County voters, however, there was a little confusion when the cards arrived because 44 registered voters who live along Columbia Road mistakenly were assigned the wrong county commission district.

It’s probably a sign of the poverty of Georgia’s Democratic Party that, when President Obama was in Atlanta this past week, he had to eat at the Varsity and pay out of his own pocket.

They couldn’t even take the man out for a decent meal, for crying out loud.

Seriously, the state’s Democrats have been struggling with fundraising for quite some time, as has the national party, which this past week said it was reorganizing its upcoming Charlotte, N.C., convention – a move designed to cut costs.

Every highway, every street, every road, everywhere, has something in common.

When there is a crash, caused by excess speed or not, residents will say exactly the same thing: “People fly down that road.”

After writing about more crashes over the years than I can count, my ear is tuned to hearing the phrase. We’ve heard it lately in reference to Augusta’s deadly Highway 56, and last week we heard it about Hereford Farm Road after the death of Cory Morin: “People fly down that road.”

Here’s a news flash: People fly down every road. We all drive too fast.

Our community got an unexpected bit of notoriety this past week from a national publication.

A story in USA Today, “High schools cracking down on end-of-the-year pranks,” made note of the vandalism of Greenbrier High School by four seniors and a younger student as one of the more damaging “pranks” to hit schools around the country.

In addition to wading through email and voicemail messages, the toughest thing about returning from vacation – well, other than having to leave the beach – is getting caught up on everything that happened while I was away.

Actually, that used to be the toughest thing. Now I keep up via our Web site and our nifty iPad app, and thus can follow such riveting stories as the tale of the man and woman last week caught having sex on the floor of the Evans movie theater.

I go away for a week, and this is the kind of thing that goes on? Yikes.